STARLOG PRESENTS SF ACTORS & ACTRESSES PLATINUM EDITION Volume #2 1994

HEROIC LEGEND

In brief, Sean Connery takes a look at his latest action role.

By IAN SPELLING

            There are some people-whether they play heroes or villains or even the leading lady’s father-who have presence.  There are others who are some kind of current phenomenon, a fad of the moment.  And then, there’s an actor like Sean Connery-in the words of his Rising Sun co-star Tia Carrere, a “walking, living, breathing legend.”

            Connery, a big, burly man with eyes of steel, a powerhouse grip and an infectious smile, can only laugh and grin with a hint of embarrassment upon being told of Carrere’s words.  “She never told me that,” he jokes during a press gathering.  “It’s very, very flattering, but I honestly find it difficult to deal with.  It’s like being voted the Sexiest Man Alive [as People magazine did just a few years ago] at 62.  It’s very nice, but it’s very difficult to make the jump from what someone else is seeing in you to what you are.”

            “It’s like a golf swing.  Everyone can tell you what you’re doing wrong, but you don’t see it.  Also, I’m living with me all the time.  Boring as it is at times, it can also be exciting.  It’s like [director] Sidney Lumet says, ‘I can’t take that crap seriously; I’ve gone to the bathroom with him.’”

            In Rising Sun, based on the Michael Crichton bestseller, Connery plays detective John Conner, a character written with him in mind.  Cast opposite him is Wesley Snipes (STARLOG #197), who portrays Los Angeles police officer Web Smith.  When a white female turns up dead at the LA offices of a powerful Japanese conglomerate, Smith and Connor are teamed, in the best action, buddy-cop movie tradition, to solve the case.

            The film (now on video) created some controversy, thanks to charges of “Japan-bashing” and the “creative differences” over the script between director Phil Kaufman and novelist Crichton, himself a respected film director (The Great Train Robbery, starring Connery) and his partner Michael Backes.

            As the film’s executive producer and a longtime friend of Crichton’s, Connery was concerned.  “But it hasn’t affected [Crichton’s] friendship with me,” says Connery.  “He has a problem with Phil Kaufman or Phil has a problem with him.  They’re both over 21 and I have enough on my plate to not get too concerned about what their problems are.  It became apparent they were having problems working together and they split.

            “One thing that I’m not sure was at the crux of it, because Crichton never discussed it with me, was the issue of changing the [Smith character] to being black.  I thought that was a very good move and a positive change for the movie.

            “Phil submitted the script [to the Writers Guild] with only his name on it, which I don’t agree with at all.  After all, Christ, the guy wrote the book,” continues Connery.  “To even presume [Kaufman was the only writer] is a mistake.  That I’ll never understand, but it’s Phil’s problem, not mine.  I don’t foresee any problem in the future between Crichton and myself.”

            Connery greatly enjoyed working with Snipes, now also a veteran action hero (Passenger 57) and villain (Demolition Man).  “He’s terrific, Wesley.  I mean it.  I saw him first in New Jack City,” Connery recalls.  “It was obvious he was more than just a personality.  If you look at the picture, he had a lot of dialogue to deal with in the drug scenes.  It was tough stuff, sort of semi-street talk, but it was strong, almost classic.  He could have been playing Shakespeare.

            “Wesley also has a terrific physical dynamic and capabilities because of his karate, and it shows.  He’s the perfect foil for someone like Connor.  I think the relationship works better in the film.”

            Next on Connery’s agenda is A Good Man in Africa, a political comedy set in an African country which has recently become an independent state.  Louis Gossett Jr. plays the title role, while Connery portrays a Scottish doctor.  “John Lithgow’s in it.  He’s marvelous,” says Connery, ‘as is Diana Rigg, Colin Friels and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer.  Bruce [Driving Miss Daisy] Beresford directed it.  I just saw it in London and it’s very funny.”

            Connery, a veteran of such SF/fantasy films as Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, Zardoz and Outland, may yet return to the genre.  Another Highlander movie is now shooting-with the inevitable cameo for Connery (who played an occasionally dead immortal in the two earlier films) still possible.  He may also star in Smoke & Mirrors, playing real-life magician Robert Houdin (whose exploits inspired young escape artist Ehrich Weiss to take on the name Harry Houdini).  Houdin actually used magic tricks to impress the natives and gain political power in 19^th-century Africa.  And then, there’s Bond, James Bond.

            Once and forever associated with his most famous alter-ego, Connery almost seems resigned to the fact that a question about 007 will arise.  And it does.  The film series is in the news again, because the legal wrangling that kept Bond out of theaters in recent years has been resolved, with another feature now in the works.  Almost immediately, talk began of pursuing Sean Connery to reprise his role or, perhaps even more interestingly, to tackle that of a scenery-chewing Bond baddie.

            “They’ve considered me a villain ever since I stopped doing them,” cracks the actor.  “I’m too old to play Bond.  I don’t think I would play a villain, unless it was a really marvelous part…and $7 million.”